A Muggle Way
by ElleLegov
Summary: What happens when Voldemort is reduced to using Muggle ways? What happens to the people who are affected by his choices?
1. A Muggle Way

Yet another sad attempt at writing a story. Disclaimer. I am not J.K. I don't own Harry Potter. I am not a multi- millionaire. So now to my brainchild.  
  
"But Master, a Muggle way?" Wormtail asked Voldemort. "Yes, It is the only way to go about this undetected, and the only truly safe way to insure that we do not end up making a mistake in our choice." Voldemort said as he paced back and forth in his cave, which looked more like the Beverly Hills Hilton than a cave dwelling. "When are Macnair and Nott bringing the expert in?" Wormtail asked as he fixed tea. "Whenever they bloody hell catch her. When else do you think?" He smacked Wormtail over the head with his reading material. "Lucius has already provided us with his part of the deal. He used the Imperious curse to procure what we needed. Fairly easily in fact." "Master, what if the plan doesn't work?" Wormtail asked. "DOESN'T WORK? IT WILL WORK GOD DAMMIT." Voldemort started to go off when suddenly Macnair and Nott appeared holding a struggling woman between them. She was not too particularly happy about being there. "I should have known it would be you they were taking me too. After all you tend to choose brawn over brains, and these are the best of the lot as far as brains are concerned." Voldemort reached over and grabbed her face holding her in his gaze. "Do not toy with me Ciara. I am only your nightmare come true. If you help me, I will let you return to your life as a Muggle doctor who happens to assist in treating those from our form of life. You however will be assisting in helping me to continue my way of life. I shall need you to do me a favor." He continued to pace the ground. Ciara spoke quietly. "I will not help you to destroy lives, I'd rather you kill me." Voldemort started to laugh. "On the contrary, Ciara. I need you to help create a life. Not destroy one. Some one in your level of expertise is needed." Ciara was finally released from the arms of her captors, and sat down in a chair. "That must be why your goons ransacked my offices as well as kidnapping me. I have a feeling that what you want is something even worse than I imagined. I will do this if you promise me that you will not harm them in any way. Now who?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "It can't be happening again. I thought he would have learned." Professor McGonagall said as she poured the tea. "We must end all Hogsmeade weekends immediately. And have no students out of doors." "Now Minerva, we can't cause a panic. If it happens it happens." Albus said as he looked out the window at the students returning from Easter holidays. Many trickled in over the weekend, being this was the last weekend of break and only Friday, many students choose to beat the rush on Sunday and return a few days early, giving them a chance to see what everyone did over the break. Many of the richer students traveled, being wizard or Muggle born. The exotic locations ranged from the Caribbean, (both groups, many magical as well as non-magic islands) to America, (mainly Muggle Born), and the Greek Islands (strictly magical islands). "But if it happens what will we do?" McGonagall asked as she watched the students as well. "We hope for the best, and work hard to maintain what we had worked so hard for. Just like the last time." Albus said. "Now Minerva, you may want to supervise the students as they are returning. I believe that there are no less that 50 magical water balloons out there, and countless non- magical ones. You may want to stop a riot before any of the portraits get wet and will want to have your head on a platter." He watched as Minerva left the room. "You shouldn't panic," he said to no one in particular. "I believe the students that he will choose shall figure out on their own how to stop it from happening in the way he wants it too." ~~~~~~********~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hermione Granger's PoV Holidays are always great. They are even better when you get to the Bahamas for three weeks. We met my aunt Lisa's family there and had a ball, stopping in NYC on the way home for three days worth of shopping. My cousin Christine, after 4th year and the Viktor Krum love relationship, took me under her wing while we were staying in the States and gave me a complete makeover, better than Lavender and Parvati could have given me. Now, after a few more summers of makeovers, and holidays as well, I had been proclaimed, at least by most of the males at Hogwarts, A goddess. Harry and Ron even, as much as it shocks me, noticed that I looked surprisingly different each time I returned to school. At least they, unlike most of the other hormonally driven boys at Hogwarts, hadn't developed crushes on me. "MIONE GRANGER!" I heard squeals coming down the stairway I had just entered. School didn't officially restart for two more days, but I wanted some extra study time for the NEWTS. I really had to do well, see as there are only two weeks until the NEWTS, and then there are only three weeks left of school. Lavender and Parvati attacked me. "How were the Bahamas?" "Did you have fun in New York?" "Awesome tan." "Were there like thousands of hot guys there?" They both stopped to take a breath. I managed to answer their questions. "The Bahamas were great. I loved shopping in New York. The beaches were awesome, and there were not thousands of hot guys, but millions. I have to go and put my things away, but I brought you to back a souvenir. " I pulled out the two shirts I had gotten at some cute store on 5th Avenue. "Mione, you shouldn't have." They both said at the same time. Lavender's shirt was dark purple and said " Boy's are Great, Every Girl should own one." Parvati's said "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, Hate me because your boyfriend thinks I am." I managed to get past them and made my way up to the Head Student quarters. I had almost cried when Dumbledor announced that Malfoy was Head Boy, but over the past few months I had gotten a little better aquainted with the idiot. He helped me with some of the Potions assignments that I need a little help with, and I in turn helped him with the Arithmacy class work. I had even, gasp, brought him back a rare potions book that I found in one of the Magical islands little shops. "Hello?" I called as I went into our common area. "Hey Granger." Malfoy stepped out of his room. "Have a nice holiday?" I asked him as I pulled out his present. "Yeah, the Greek islands are a really nice place. Did you have a nice holiday?" He asked "It was really nice in the Bahamas. I found this in a little shop and thought I'd get it for you." I handed him the book. "Thanks. I got this on Circe's island for you." He handed me a necklace that looked like miniature ivy that had been coated in silver. "Its really pretty Malfoy." I put the necklace on. "My mum picked it out, I wanted to get you something left over from Troy, but my mum said that she didn't think you would like armor." Malfoy laughed. I laughed with him. "Well I have to go unpack." I pulled my suitcases out of my handbag. 7th year students were allowed to use a few simple charms outside of school. Shrinking and enlarging were included in these. I increased the size of my bags, pulling out the new clothing I had purchased. On weekends, holidays, and every other Friday we were allowed to wear anything that we pleased, within reason of course. As my mum said, nothing I couldn't wear to Mass and confession. Being a witch didn't mean I wasn't Catholic anymore, but that was even starting to change as I got older. I finished unpacking, grabbing Ginny, Harry, and Ron's presents. I had gotten Ginny a dress that she shouldn't probably open in front of Ron seeing as it had spaghetti straps and was form fitting, and very red. Ron and Harry had both gotten shirts that I had found in some random store. They were a shiny Hawaiian print, Harry's being dark green, Ron's being orange. I muttered my password to the portrait that led me into the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Harry were playing chess again; Ginny was reading a book on the couch. Without Ron and Harry seeing, I grabbed Ginny and we went to their dorm. "Hermione! How was your vacation?" Ginny asked when we were upstairs. "Really awesome. The Bahamas were so nice. I loved every minute of being there. And New York was really cool. I got you this at a really cool shop." I handed her the package. She opened it. "Hermione it's really cool." She said as she ducked into the bathroom to try the dress on. "I thought that you should open it up here, seeing as Ron still seems to think of you as a small child." I watched as she stepped out. "It's a perfect fit. Do you think Dean will like it?" She asked. She and Dean had been dating for a while now. I hoped that they would keep up the relationship after Dean graduated. "If Dean has eyes, he should. Now I better get back to the natives before they decided to revolt." I headed back down the stairs. Ron and Harry were still engrossed in their game of chess. I stopped the game the only way I knew I could. The same way I have stopped them since 4th year........... I sat on the game board. "HERMIONE! What did you do that for?" Ron asked slightly irate. "Hello Mione. How was your vacation?" Harry asked much calmer than Ron. "It was great Harry. I brought these back for you guys. I handed them each the appropriate package. They each opened their packages. "These are really cool Mione. Thanks." Ron hugged me. "I like the choice in color. It's great. Thanks a bunch." Harry said. Just then the clock bell tolled ten times. I remembered that I wanted to spend most of tomorrow studying. "I'm going to hit the sack. See you two some time tomorrow. I plan on using my two days to study." They both groaned. "Good night." I said as I opened my painting doorway. They both echoed me as they became engrossed in the game again. Once in my room I slipped into my pajamas, seeing the three red marks on my stomach again. They were probably just spider bites. 


	2. 2.

Harry's PoV  
  
I woke up stiff. And on the Gryffindor common room couch. I must have dozed off reading last night after Ron beat me at the stupid chess game. "Good Morning Sleeping Ugly!" Ron slammed a pillow over my head.  
  
"That's real nice of you. What time is it?" I asked as I slowly pulled myself up from the couch. "Almost eight." He said. I groaned. "You know I am not human until at least nine." "Well, the fair Hermione wishes that we have breakfast with her at 8:30, and then study for a mandatory time of 30 minutes with her in the library." Ron said. "And I don't think the fair princess would approve of you wearing the same clothing, and having missed a shower." "Fine. Just knock off the fake accent." I told him as I headed for the dorm. ~~~~~~~~~~**********~~~~~~~~ Voldemort's lair. Ciara sat back in the chair. "You did it exactly how I told you correct? Even the aging bit." "YES. I aged it exactly to seven weeks." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hermione It was 8:35. They were late again. I began re-reading my DADA book again. The hall door banged open, Ron and Harry entered. I remembered my spider bites. Last night there had only been three, but today there were 6. I wonder if I should put up some sort of repelling charm. "Good morning Mione." The boys greeted me as they sat down. "You're late." I told them as I watched them eat. "Potter here took longer in the bathroom than Ginny does." Ron said. "Well Ron. If you wouldn't have stopped in the hall to chat up Susan Bones we still would have been on time." Harry said. "Ohhh, Does ickkle Ronnykins have a crush?" I couldn't help myself. "I don't have a crush on Susie!" Ron said. "Ohhhh so it's Susie now?" Harry shot back at him. "Knock it off you two. Please. Can I just leave my love life alone for once?" Ron asked turning quite the shade of red, about the same as his hair. "Fine Ron. Mione, can I have the coffee?" Harry asked. I grabbed the container and started to pour a cup for him. Suddenly the smell started to make me nauseous. "Excuse me." I managed to run to the nearest bathroom, Moaning Myrtle's. Where I promptly emptied the contents of my breakfast. "Mione?" I heard Harry and Ron enter the bathroom. "Yeah?" I called out. "Are you ok? You looked a little green back there." Ron said. "I think I'll be fine in a minute." I told them. "Ok." They both left. I exited the stall and rinsed my mouth out. Maybe I was getting the flu or something like that. I walked into the hallway. "Hermione Granger?" I turned around. One of the little first year Gryffindor girls, Kayle, was standing there. "Yes?" I asked her. "Professor Dumbledor asked to see you in his office." Kayle said. "Thanks for the message." I headed to the office. As I stood outside the Gargoyle I realized that I had no clue of what the password was. "Hello Hermione." Professor Olivia Bradwell, the latest DADA teacher was standing there. "Hello Professor." I greeted her. "I am here for the meeting as well. I believe that the password is Snot Bubbles." The Professor said. As soon as she said the password, the door opened. "Good Afternoon Miss Granger, and Hello Olivia." Professor Dumbledor was seated at his desk. "Now, Hermione, Olivia knows why you have been called here, and I shall leave it up to her to tell you why as well." I started to panic. "Are my parents ok?" I asked. "Yes, your parents are fine." Professor Dumbledor said. "Then why am I here?" I started to panic. Professor Bradwell spoke up. "Hermione we are under suspicions that you may have been chosen for a part of Voldemort's evil plan. Have you felt at all ill over the holidays?" She asked. "Not until this morning. I threw up after breakfast. For some odd reason the coffee smell got to me." I looked up to see an exchange of glances. "Please come with me to the Hospital wing immediately." Professor Bradwell said. I followed her. "What is wrong?" I asked her. "I am not sure if anything is, but proper precautions must be taken." She opened the Hospital wing door. There were no students around. Madame Pomfrey stuck her head out of her office door. "Oh dear. Olivia?" She questioned. "Yes, we have our suspicions." She answered Madame Pomfrey's unasked question. "Well, dearie, stick out your arm here." I help out my arm. She took a small vial full of blood. "This will just take a minute Olivia." She said for the Professors benefit. " Hermione, just hold tight here." She said as she joined Madame Pomfrey in a corner. **********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~********** Olivia and Poppy's conversation. "If it turns purple, she is. If it turns any other color, she isn't. If it is purple, I will test that to see how far." Poppy said. "I hope for her sake it's green or blue." Olivia said back. "It's turning now." Poppy held the vial and tapped it. It slowly turned blue, then red, and settled on the color not wanted by all, purple. "No." Olivia said. "Potions don't lie." Poppy said. "I'll add the time formula." She added a small amount of powder. The potion slowly turned green. "Seven weeks." Poppy said. "But there is still the off-hand chance that it isn't her. Will you ask her?" Olivia turned and walked to where Hermione was seated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*********~~~~~~~~ I watched as the two conferred. Soon Professor Bradwell walked over to me. "Hermione, I am going to ask you a question, however I do not want you to take it the wrong way. Are you a virgin?" She asked. "Yes, as a matter of fact I am. I don't even have a boyfriend currently, and I plan on remaining so until I am married." I told her, a bit abrasively. "Hermione, I have to tell you this slowly, and please do not run when I tell you." She took a deep breath. "Hermione, you are seven weeks pregnant." She looked at me. I heard a door slam. Cho Chang had chosen that moment to walk in. She obviously had heard because she hightailed it out quiet fast. "That is impossible." I told her. "I am a virgin." "Do you have any strange and unusual marks?" She asked. I remembered the spider bites. "Yes." I lifted up my shirt and showed her the bites. She called Madame Pomfrey over. "Poppy, these aren't spider bites?" She asked. The nurse had a closer look. "No, they are hypodermic needle marks. And they are the exact kind that fertility specialists use for in vitro fertilization." She said. "Olivia, go tell the Professor now!" She had a sense of urgency in her voice. The Professor left. "Hermione are you feeling alright?" She asked me. "NO I AM NOT!" I shouted at her. "YOU MUST BE OBVUIOUSLY WRONG TO THINK THAT OF ME." I took a deep breath. "I am not pregnant, and Cho is going to tell the whole fucking school that I am." I started to cry. Professor Bradwell came back in. She wrapped her arms around me. I sobbed. She started to explain some thing to me. "Hermione. First of all, this is not your fault. Voldemort has found out a way to reincarnate himself, however, he needs a child to do that. In order to work properly, this child must have a witch, and a powerful one, as a mother. She also must be a virgin. To maintain purity. He chose you. Now there may be a way to stop this from happening, however, it must wait until after the child is born." I had stopped sobbing, and was just hiccupping at that point. "So what your saying is that I am carrying Voldemort's child?" I asked her, sobs starting to form again. "No, He needs a child not related to him. Yet powerful." She said. The door burst open again. Ron and Harry pounded through. "Hermione? Is it true what Cho said?" Ron asked. Still being held in Professor Bradwell's arms I nodded. "I'll kill the fucking bastard." Harry said. I had never heard works like this out of his mouth. "I swear to god he will be dead before tomorrow morning. Who did this?" He asked. I shook my head at them. "Tell me please." He asked kneeling near where I was sitting. "Right now, Harry, we are not certain who is the father of Hermione's child." The Professor spoke. "And it is not directly their fault. May I explain?" She asked me. I nodded. "Hermione is part of a plot that Voldemort had plotted to help in his reincarnation. She was in vitro fertilized with eggs that had been aged slightly, by approximately seven weeks. He did not impregnate her himself, seeing as that is not only impossible, but in doing so would ruin his chances of this being a truly pure child." She told them as I sat there. Soon Professor Dumbledor walked in. "Hello students. Olivia if I may speak with you and Poppy in her office momentarily." The Professors walked into the office. Harry sat next to me and wrapped his arms around me. "I knew I should have made sure the bastard was dead last year." I spoke up, my voice cracking. "It's not your fault Harry." Ron moved to the other side. "It's going to be fine Hermione." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****************~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The office Conversation "Poppy, seven weeks?" Albus asked. "And one day." She said. "Any thoughts as to who he is using as the father?" Olivia asked. "Who is the one person he hates the most? Who has he not been able to kill for almost 18 years?" Albus said. The two women looked at each other then out the office window to the three students. One black-haired boy with a scar, a still crying cinnamon colored girl, and a fiery redhead boy all sat on the same bed. "And in his own words he said he would kill the fucking bastard who was the father." Olivia said. "Shall I test him?" Poppy asked. "Yes, but first send Ronald out to try and stop the damage that a certain student may have started to cause." Albus said. "Ron?" Olivia called out. He came to the door. "Would you please try to find Cho and get her to shut up, then take her to my office. I believe I shall be planning a few detention hours for her." Cho had failed most of her 6th year classes and had to repeat a grade making her graduate a year late. "Yes Professor." Ron walked out the door. "Harry?" Olivia called. He walked over to them as well. "Stick out your arm." Poppy said. He did so without asking. She with drew a small vial of blood. She then mixed that with what remained of the bottle she had drawn from Hermione. It turned purple almost immediately. "That's what I thought was going to happen." Albus said. "What?" Harry looked at the adults. It seemed to hit him. "No. He fucked with my life enough, now he has to screw up one of my best friends? Using me." "I'm sorry to say that you are right Harry." Albus said. "Please head to my office, I wish to speak with you more on the subject. Do not say anything to Miss Granger. I shall speak to her myself. Tell her you are running an errand for me." Harry stormed out the door telling Hermione he was running an errand. ~~~~~~~***********~~~~~~~~~ Hermione again Harry was called to the office, spoke with the adults for a few minutes then left, enraged. "Where are you going?" I asked him. "I am running an errand." He told me, slamming the door shut as he left. He still seemed angry. "Hermione?" Professor Bradwell came out of the office. "Yes?" I timidly asked her. " I am going to escort you to your dormitory momentarily. Meet me in the great Hall in a few minutes. You may want to retrieve your things from The Great hall that I believe you left there during breakfast." She seemed preoccupied at the moment. I slowly walked to the Great Hall, where the clock read 10:02. It had hardly been an hour since I ate breakfast. I found my books were right where I had left them. Lavender and Parvati were sitting there. "Hermione?" Lavender asked. "Is it true what Cho told us?" She asked as I grabbed my things. "Please tell us Hermione. We are your friends." Parvati said. I sat between the two. "Yes" I said to the two of them. "To some extent what Cho said is true." "Who is the father?" Lavender asked. "I don't know. It's all some fucked up plan that You-Know-Who cooked up to try and reincarnate himself." "It's going to be fine, Hermione." Parvati told me. "We will make sure that Cho sets the record straight. She told us that you were probably sleeping with Malfoy, and that Professor Dumbledor was going to expel you. "Cho is a stupid idiot." I told them. "I have to meet Professor Bradwell now." 


	3. 3.

*********~~~~~~~~~********Harry's view again. Why her. Why did he have to use Hermione? He has fucked up my life enough as it is; now he had to us my best friend. I sat stewing in Dumbledor's office. Why me? Could he have not found two other people to use in his screwed up plans for the world. I love Hermione like a sister. And now that I see her hurting, god! Why couldn't I have gone back to check that he was dead last year? I know why, he had hit Hermione with a curse and I wanted to get her help as soon as possible. I sent her back to the school, and when I turned back around, he was gone. I started to slam my head on the armrest of the chair. Now I'd ruined Hermione's life. I should have made sure I finished Voldemort off before I sent her for help, now, it's even worse. We haven't even taken our NEWTS yet. How the hell is she supposed to not flake out on them? She'll freeze if she is stressed. "Hello Harry." I looked up. Sirius was standing in the doorway. "Please kill me now." I told him. "I know I haven't been as responsible as I should have been. I know I should have told Dumbledor that my scar hurt the other night. I know I should have told him that I couldn't remember what happened after the Quidditch match three weeks ago when I wound up in the trophy room and had no clue how I had gotten there. I just wanted a normal life for one year. Now it's way past normal. Now I've gotten Hermione hurt in the process. And what the hell am I supposed to do now?" I started to panic. "I'm not even 18. Why is this all happening to me." "Harry drink this." Sirius handed me a bottle. I then drained the contents. I immediately started to calm down. He gave me a calming potion. "Now, Albus told me what has happened. It is not your fault. You are only 17 and do deserve a normal life. You haven't hurt Hermione. I do agree that you should have told Albus about your scar hurting, and your loss of memory. But you are a kid you don't know everything. What I wouldn't do for the ability to ask your dad and mum what to do now." Sirius got the far off look in his eyes again. "I'm sorry." I told him. "None of this is your fault son. Just a misfortunate accident." Sirius told me as he looked into the fire. "Albus must be having some problems getting a hold of Hermione's parents." I started to panic again. "Mr. Granger is going to kill me. Mrs. Granger will try to strangle me." I started to think of places that I could hide. "Not while I am here. This is not your fault, nor is it Hermione's." Sirius said again. "Hello Sirius, and Harry." Dumbledor came into his office. "Matters have taken a little time to try and work out. I have not been able to get a hold of Hermione's parents. They seem to be still off on holiday." ~~~~~~~~~********************~~~~~~ Hermione's view again. "Hermione?" I snapped up seeing the Professor standing near me. "Let's go to your dorm and have you change and fix your self up a bit. Professor Dumbledor wishes to speak to you. He has figured out the father, another student here." I breathed out a small sigh of relief, at least it wasn't a Death Eater. We walked to my dorm, it being on the other side of the school. As we walked, the Professor started to talk. "Hermione?" She asked. "Yes?" I looked at her. "If you need any help with anything, don't hesitate to ask, even though we only have 5 weeks left of the school year, owl me at any time. Just to talk even." She stopped and gave me another hug. "The Professor has formulated a plan for when you take your NEWTS. You and the father will have your memories wiped of these events the mornings of the tests. After they are all finished those, each takes approximately an hour and a half, and there are three one day, four the next, your memories shall be returned. This way you are not preoccupied during the tests." She finished as we entered my dormitory. I thanked God for small favors, seeing as Malfoy was not present. I quickly changed into a nicer looking dress and brushed my hair. I also fixed my mascara and other makeup so I didn't look like a raccoon. We walked at a fairly fast pace to the office where Professor Bradwell stated the password fast. As we rushed up the stairs I heard Professor Dumbledor talking. "I haven't been able to get a hold of Hermione's parents. They seem to still be off on holiday." I spoke up. "They are on holiday until I graduate. They didn't tell me where they were going." Professor Bradwell opened the doorway fully and I saw Harry and Sirius sitting in two of the chairs. I tried to grip the chair in front of me as I fell. ~~~~~~~*********~~~~~~~~~~ Harry again. "Catch her!" Sirius called out. I leaped up and caught her just before she hit the floor. She had fainted. "You didn't tell her?" I accused Professor Bradwell as I laid Mione on the couch in the office. "I thought it would be better if she found out on her own." The Professor said. They worked to revive her. "Great. Just great. She will probably never speak to me again. I didn't tell her when I first found out, you didn't tell her. Obviously no one cares about her feelings." I stormed out of the office and headed out to where I could thing. The Quidditch Pitch. I grabbed my broom from the locker room and started to fly around. I looked at the large clock mounted near the field. It was half past eleven. I had no appetite for any lunch at all. I just wanted to fly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*************~~~~~~~~ Albus's office "She is coming around now." Olivia said. "God. I think that she has had an awful day." Sirius said. "NO No No No No NO." Hermione said as she started to wake up. "My best friend is not the father of this baby." She sat up suddenly.  
  
"WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME BEFORE? You knew it was him." She accused Olivia. She, following a similar path to Harry's, stormed out of the office. "This has not gone well at all." I told Sirius and Olivia as they sat down. "We have no way of getting a hold of Hermione's parents, do we Albus?" Olivia asked as she thought. "No, the only way would be if we knew where they were. They must be coming for the graduation ceremonies." I told her. "Can this wait five weeks? To do nothing until then, seeing as Hermione is under 18, she needs an adult guardian to sign for any doctor visits." Sirius said as we sat and contemplated. I remembered the sheets that all parents, or guardians signed at the beginning of a student's term here, in case of emergency, giving us temporary guardianship. " We have the right to get medical care for her. Her parents signed the release sheets." I told them. "Olivia, will you take her the day after exams are finished. That is in two weeks time. She seems to consider you a type of mentor." I asked. "I wouldn't mind." Olivia told me. "Sirius, another reason I asked you here was to give you the keys to Harry's house. The summer home that James's owned. I had been given the keys when they went into hiding, promised that if anything happened to them, that Harry would get the house when he graduates. That is approaching fast, and I want to make sure that things are in order." I handed the three sets of keys to him. "This third set are the four remaining vaults at Gringotts. All given to Harry the day he graduates. Numbers 568, 902, 823 and 1993. The house is fully furnished, and the kitchen shall be stocked when he decides to move there." I told Sirius. "Now, just to make sure things are all right, Sirius, please go talk to Hermione, I believe you will find her in the Astronomy tower. Olivia, please talk to Harry, you will find him on the pitch. But wait a little while, to give them time to think for a while." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*********~~~~~~ Hermione I had run to the place that I knew held secrets. The Astronomy tower. It was the tallest tower in the school. From there you could see forever. This morning, I thought we would finish a normal year at Hogwarts, with no major catastrophes, or incidents. Now, it's hardly one in the afternoon, and I am pregnant. I haven't graduated yet, and I am not even 18. I don't turn 18 until September fourth. I figured out that towards the end of November is when the baby will be due. It's had to not think of myself as one person. I've been up her for about an hour now, thinking. Harry has been flying around since I got up here. I can see him from the open window. I wish he wasn't involved in this matter at all. Harry had never gotten a chance to live a normal life, and now he sure as hell won't. He has already gotten offers to play for just about any Quidditch team. He also has been looking into Auror training. He needs to live his own life for a while, not to be dumped into another where he has a child. I have no clue what Voldemort is going to try and do before the baby is born or after it is. I know that this will probably not make my parents happy, they are even iffy on the fact that I am a witch. Then there is the fact that I am pregnant, and unmarried. "Hermione?" I turned and saw Sirius, formerly Snuffles standing in the doorway. "Are you ok?" He sat next to me on the window seat. "Yes, I'm fine." I told him lying. "If you are ok, then why are you crying?" He asked. He pulled out a large monogrammed handkerchief that he handed to me. I used it to dab at my eyes. "I guess I am scared. And confused." I told him. "Sound to me a little more like frightened, and majorly confused to me." He said. "But then what do I know? I am always in the dog house." He transfigured himself into his dog form and back again. I smiled. "That's better. I like to see you smile. Now, seriously, please do not blame yourself, there is nothing you could have done to stop this. We had no way of knowing that He was going to use you and Harry. If we would have know, we would have done something to stop him." Sirius said. "I know that. I just feel bad for putting Harry in another situation, that doesn't help him lead a normal life. He needs normality, not a fiasco." I told him as I looked out the window again. Harry was no longer flying around. "Hermione, this is not a fiasco. You both can continue to live normal lives; the only difference is that there will be a kid out there that shares your genes. There is adoption, and as soon as we know what move He will take, the sooner we can get the two of you back to normal lives." Sirius said as he handed me another handkerchief. "I'm not sure if that is what I want." I told him. "I have a hard time imagining that I could just give up a part of me. I would be perfectly fine with being a single mom, or if Harry wants, to share custody. Only if that is what Harry is fine with as well. It has to be a decision that he agrees to." I told him. "I also don't want Harry to feel obligated to marry me. And you better make sure to tell him that. I know how Harry can be a nice guy, but I don't want him to be too nice." I told Sirius. "I'll make sure I do tell him that." Sirius said. ~~~~~~~~~~~********~~~~~~~ Harry's PoV. It's almost one. I've been flying for an hour and a half. I wish that this would have finished out being a normal year, no strange happening, jut a year of school. Now one of the people I have considered to be my best friend for the past seven years is pregnant with my child. I didn't sleep with her, then dump her, which makes me feel a bit better. Still, I am now a dad. This is not how I thought I would start my first year of life without the Dursleys or Sirius, as a dad. I still haven't even made any concrete plans with what to do, unlike Hermione. She knows exactly what she wants to do. Be an editor for Flourish and Blotts, re-write an updated version of Hogwarts: A History, and write more history of magic books, possible even a few on Arithmacy and Potions. She had her life planned, and now because of our friendship I fucked it up. If I hadn't let Voldemort get near her so many times, this wouldn't have happened. He would have never even heard of Hermione Granger. "Harry?" I looked down and saw Professor Bradwell standing on the ground near the concessions stand. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I yelled down. I still can't believe she didn't tell Hermione when they first found out I was the father. "Will you please come down and talk to me for a bit? She asked. "Fine." I came to a halt inches away from where she was sitting at one of the tables the kept near the concession area. "We need to talk." She said. I hopped off of my broom and sat at another chair at the table. "Fine." "I'm sorry that I didn't tell Hermione when we first found out. I though she would take it better from you than from anyone else. It isn't your fault that this happened. We had no way of predicting who he would use, or even when he was planning on doing this to anyone." She said. "There is something I could have done. I could have made sure that I finished him back in 6th year. I could have made sure that Hermione was never involved in the stuff that made Voldemort aware she existed." I told her. "You weren't going to leave her behind at the TriWizard tournament during your fourth year. You cared about her then." The Professor said. "And I still do. She is my best friend. I hurt her now." I told her. "Harry. You did not impregnate Hermione. Someone else did that, and left a record from the hypodermic needle marks. What did you do this morning when she got sick?" She asked me. "I followed her and made sure she was ok." I told her. "And you did not wreck any lives. You and Hermione can always give the baby up for adoption." She told me. I thought about that for a minute. "I really don't think I could do that, knowing that somewhere would be a kid that had my genes, yet I didn't help to raise it. I wouldn't want to be a dad that was never around, I would want to be active in it's life. I wouldn't want Hermione to be abandoned." I told her. "Are you starting to feel a bit better now, that you have had a chance to think and talk?" She asked me. "Yeah, this is just had to comprehend all at once." I told her. "Well, would you mind continuing this over lunch? I had some things saved and set aside. We can talk more in my office." She said. "Isn't Cho still there with Ron?" I asked. "No. Miss Chang has had to pay for her actions severely. And Mr. Weasley has already eaten, however I suggest that you and Hermione speak with him about the events today." She said. "Now I suggest we head in." I followed her into the school, first putting my broom back. ~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~ Sirius and I sat in silence a bit longer. "Hermione?" He asked. "Yes?" I asked. "Would you mind if we went and got some lunch, I had them save us some, and continue anything else you want to talk about in Albus's office?" Sirius asked. I remembered I hadn't eaten anything since this morning, and most of that I had thrown up. "Sounds fine to me. 


	4. 4.

Sorry for the lack of spacing in the previous three chapters. It isn't my saving that changes it somehow FF.net deletes spacing.  
  
~~~~~~~Hermione's View As soon as we walked back down to Dumbledor's office, I had stares. Cho worked fast at spreading gossip, and she knew who to spread it to. More students had come back from their spring holidays, and no one had wasted a single moment in telling them. Did Sirius get any stares? Nope, not since the Ministry had cleared his name after finding more clues that proved he wasn't involved in the murders of the Potters. It was all me. Soon we reached the office and entered. Dumbledor was nowhere to be had, but his phoenix, Fawkes started to sing as soon as we entered. He was beautiful and his song was even more beautiful than his plumage. We sat down to a lunch of ham sandwiches, potato salad, juice, and still warm chocolate chip cookies. When Sirius reached for the coffee pot I believe I gave him a heart attack. "No, no coffee." I told him. "Unless you want to review what I just ate, you won't open that pot. The smell made me throw up this morning." He grimaced. "I won't take my chances." He sent the pot back down. "I'll survive."  
  
"I'm sorry, I just don't want to take my chances. I enjoyed lunch." I told him as I looked around Dumbledor's office. I had never spent much time up here. I avoided, or tried to avoid trouble as much as possible. It was a nice room, very cozy. "So Hermione, what are you planning on doing after graduation?" Sirius asked. "I have an interview with Flourish and Blotts as soon as my NEWTS scores get in. They have an offer for a new editor, and writer, and are looking for someone to write Hogwarts: A History in a new version, the one they have out now predates your years here. And if I get the offer to re- write it I'll be sure to mention the Marauders a few times. Just to get you into history." I told him. "Just make sure to call us Prongs, Moony and Padfoot. You can leave the other to be lost in time." Sirius said. He still hated the fact that Wormtail hadn't been caught yet. "I'll make sure to forget that name." I told him. I yawned, just realizing how tired, emotionally, and physically I was. "I almost forgot, the Professors excused you from classes tomorrow." Sirius said. "There is no way I am missing any reviews. I aim to have the highest score possible." I told him. He laughed. "Well I suggest that you hit the sack soon. It's been a long day." ~~~~~~~~~~~~***********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harry's view. Professor Bradwell's office was really nice. The last time I had been here was when Moody the fake tried to kill me. There was a tray of sandwiches, potato salad, juice, coffee, and warm chocolate chip cookies. I grabbed a sandwich and a cup of coffee and sat. I needed caffeine; I was starting to feel a bit drained. "Harry, I want you to know that you don't need to try and do everything right now." Bradwell said. "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "From past experiences, and from what I have heard, you have a tendency to try and fix everything at once, and making it so that no one gets hurt. One thing I mean by that is to wait a bit to try and talk with Hermione. Only do that when you both feel that the time is right. Don't try and overextend your self. You already have proven yourself to be a good friend. I do however suggest that you, Hermione, and Ron all have a chat about the recent events. Other than that, wait for a sign. I encourage you to still be friendly with Hermione, not to alienate her. Lord knows she already will be facing some, shall I say crap from the other students for being pregnant after Miss Chang's actions today. And in knowing how the rumor mill of this school works, by the time classes start tomorrow, even more will know. Speaking of tomorrow, Professor Dumbledor has excused both you and Hermione from classes tomorrow, the Professors are already aware of the situation." I started to laugh. "There is no way Hermione would miss a single day of class, especially when we are reviewing for the NEWTS. She after all might have forgotten something. I have known her for seven years, and if possible she is always at class. And if she goes, I go." I yawned. I was getting tired. It felt like I hadn't slept in weeks. "Harry?" The Professor asked "Yeah?" I said yawning again. "Go to bed." She smiled. "I'll do that." I told her. I headed back to the common room and dorm. "7th Years are the Best." I told the Fat Lady. I stepped up into the common room where I was yanked by my arm and tossed on to the couch where Hermione was already seated. "I demand to know what is going on here." Ron said. He was starting to get quite angry, he was even turning red again, and this time not embarrassed red, but highly pissed off red. I turned to Hermione. "Did he do the same thing to you?" I asked. "No, he found me when I was walking back from Dumbledor's office and informed me if I did not comply he would make sure that I had no chocolate for a week. What could I do?" She laughed. I rubbed my arm. He really had yanked hard. Ron cleared his throat. "I demand to be told facts. Good Hard Facts. As to why after the Cho incident I could not find either of you for the rest of the day. Why I saw Sirius here in school. Why neither of you two showed up for lunch and why people keep saying that Hermione is carrying Draco Malfoy's love child." At the last comment Mione and I cracked up. "This is not funny." He said. "Yeah, actually it is. While I no longer hate Malfoy, I would never have children with him." She was still laughing. All of a sudden Ron slammed his hand on one of the tables. It made Mione jump a foot and we both stopped laughing. "Ron lighten up." I could tell he had really scared Mione. "I am not going to lighten up until you both tell me the truth, the whole truth. I am sick of always being the last to know." He had gone beyond the angry red color, and had started to turn normal colored again. This meant business. ~~~~~~~~~*********~~~~~ Hermione's PoV When he slammed his hand I jumped a foot. I didn't think he was that mad. Harry tried to reason with him a bit. That had only made things worse. I looked over at Harry and he looked at me. It was now, or face the angry Ronald. "Should you or I?" I asked Harry quietly. "Maybe I should. I have no clue how he is going to react." Harry said, again trying to protect me. "Fine with me." I whispered to him. "Ron. We found out who the father is." Harry told him slowly. "Hermione and I were just off in separate places thinking how we are going to deal with this newest task." He handled the situation quiet well. "Is that true Hermione?" Ron asked. "Yes it is." I told him quietly. "So you are carrying Harry's baby, yet have never slept with him or anything like that?" Ron seemed to not believe the Voldemort factor. "I have never touched her Ron Weasley and you damn well know that." Harry started to get up. "And if you don't choose to believe us and the experts, then I guess you aren't the friend to either of us that we thought you were." I stood up not wanting to see any blood shed. "Lets just all take some time to cool off now." I said trying to be diplomatic. "Why the hell should I listen to you?" Ron snarled at me. "You're just a little slut." Harry lunged at Ron.  
  
"STOP IT!" I screamed. "RIGHT NOW GOD DAMNIT!" My sudden outburst caused them to stop dead in their tracks. "I'm sorry." I said as I bolted out of the door to find someplace to think about the combustion that I had caused. ~~~~~*********~~~~~~ Harry's PoV After she ran out of the room Ron and I stood there for a second trying to comprehend what all had just happened. "See what you did. Hermione and I are telling you the truth, and you can't get it through your thick head. Hermione is having a really tough time with this, tougher than I am. I am still trying to figure this all out." I told Ron as I backed away from him. "Yeah, well I don't think I can consider you a friend anymore. I still a. don't believe you, and b. cannot you held this behind my back all day long." Ron said, still fuming. "I AM TELLING THE TRUTH!" I told him. He suddenly decked me. "I am tired of you. I am tired of being the sidekick. I am also tired of you and your pathetic life. You must have used the 'Poor me, I have no parents, my relatives are asses' to get her to sleep with you." He said, decking me again. "My mum was right way back in fourth year, neither of you two can be trusted." HE stormed off. I reached up and wiped the blood from the cut on my lip. "Thanks for understanding man, thanks a whole fucking lot!" I kicked the table out of my way and went to find Sirius. I figured he'd still be here somewhere. I pulled my map out of my pocket. Ron was in the dorm, the little speech bubble held more profanity than anything I had ever seen. Hermione was back in Myrtle's bathroom. Sirius was in the kitchen. I made my way to the fruit painting and tickled the pear, slipping in the entrance. Sirius was sitting at a table working his way through a mound of cookies. "God what happened to you?" Sirius asked as I sat next to him. "Ronald Weasley." I said. One of the elves brought over a mirror and a rag. "For Mister Potter. His Wezzey got mad." It was one of Dobby's friends. I looked in the mirror. My lip had already started to swell and I knew I was going to have a black eye tomorrow. "Sirius, is there anything you can do for this?" I asked my godfather. "Not really. Black eyes can't be healed, and the lip will go down. I take it Ron was not happy when you talked." Sirius set down his newspaper. "Happiness was an understatement. He thinks I slept with Hermione. He thinks this is an elaborate lie. I thought he was going to deck her for a minute back there. He called her a slut and said that his mother had been right about us back in fourth year." I told him. I grabbed a cookie and shoved it in my mouth. "Has Ron ever liked Hermione?" Sirius asked. "Yeah, after the Yule ball and through part of 5th year. Then he decided that he liked Hannah Abbot." I told Sirius. "Then it was Cho, this year, Susan Bones and Julie Moon." I told him. "Do you think Ron could have still had feelings for Hermione, and thinks that somehow this went against your friendship?" Sirius asked. "It could be, I thought he got over her a long time ago." I told him. "And I only see Hermione as a good friend." "See, this could be the reason for the black eye. Could Ron think you have feelings for Hermione since the Ginny debacle ended in September?" Sirius asked. "No, I dated around for a while, and didn't seem to find anyone to my liking. I told him that." I remembered the conversation. "Well, maybe he thought that you took the opportunity to date Hermione, liked her, and chose not to tell him because you wanted to see if it would work out." Sirius said. "I never dated her. She had Justin for a while, Seamus last year, and this year said she didn't want to be tied down." I remember when Mione was telling us that during the first Hogsmeade weekend. We had been celebrating her birthday. We sat and ate cookies for a while longer. ~~~~~~~~~~*********~~~~~ Hermione's view Ron was mad. Beyond mad. For a moment back there I thought he was going to attack me. Harry stepped up to him before Ron got a chance. Now I'm back in Myrtle's bathroom trying to re-salvage my makeup and stop crying again. I heard someone coming, so I ducked into a stall. "Mione?" I heard Lavender ask. "Are you in here?" I slowly opened the door. She and Parvati were standing outside. "We heard the fight going on and thought that we better check on you." Parvati held out her arms and gave me a hug. I started to cry again.  
  
Lavender pulled something over me. It was Harry's Invisibility cloak.  
  
"Just to get you back to our dorm room." She said as we began the walk back. When we finally got there. They took the cloak off of me and sat me on the bed. I sobbed again. Lavender quickly to a face cloth and wiped off my make-up. "It's going to be alright Hermione. Ron will get over himself." Parvati said as she unbuckled my shoes. "How mmmmuuch of the fffight did yooouu hhhear." I asked my voice still shaky. "After Ron slammed his fist." Lavender said. "So you know that." I trailed off. "Yes we know Harry is the father of your baby. We however believe that you didn't sleep with him. That this is some evil plot." Lavender finished her sentence. "Hermione, why don't you try and get some sleep?" Parvati said. "Put on a pair of my pajamas." She tossed me a pair that had cows on them. I pulled them on and slid in Lavender's bed. Lavender tucked the covers around me and turned on one of her slow song cds in her enchanted cd player. I started to drift off to sleep pretty fast. ~~~~~~~~~*******~~~~~~~~ Harry's PoV I slept on the couch again. Not wanting to face the wrath of Ron again. By this time all of the Gryffindors had heard that we had gotten into a fight, and like true Gryffindors, no one asked questions or spread any gossip. By this time however, the whole school knew she was pregnant. Rumors ranged from a fling in the Bahamas, to Malfoy's love child. One even said that it was Voldemort's kid and that he had slept with her in the form of some Muggle movie star. Josh Hartnett. I got up, showered and dressed after Dean told me Ron had left, and slowly made my way down to breakfast. For some reason no one asked why I had a black eye, they were to engrossed in the gossip about Hermione. Breakfast was busy, and I didn't see Hermione there, but she probably got up early and ate to avoid the stares. Soon the bells rang and we all rushed off to class. We had potions first, and when I arrived, Snape was in a foul mood. "Take your seat Potter." He said. I had arrived a minute late. He hadn't however taken any points off. I looked around the room and saw that Lavender and Hermione were missing. Snape didn't say a single word, however. He started lecturing us on the 15 uses for doxy wings. A small piece of paper made it's way to my desk without Snape or any of the Slytherins noticing. Ron had taken a seat near the door and still was shooting me god-awful looks. I opened the note and read the contents. Harry, Lavender and I heard the fight yesterday in the common room. We haven't told anyone. Hermione fell asleep yesterday around two, and has slept so far. Professor Dumbledor excused Lavender from classes so that Hermione wouldn't wake up alone. I have a feeling that Hermione will probably show up for afternoon classes, seeing as we have Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. She will probably skip out on Arithmacy however. Have a nice day. Parvati. Those two were really nice girls. I'm glad that Lavender stayed with Hermione. Seeing as I have a free hour between this and Curses and Counter- curses Pre-Auror class I should go check on her and see how she is doing. I kept doodling and not really paying attention to the review, but Snape seemed too preoccupied to notice. He didn't even notice that Malfoy and Blaise Zambini kept cuddling in the back corner. Soon the bell rang. I went to get up. "Potter. Stay after for a minute please." Snape said as the students filed out. He had turned out to not be as bad as he had been at the start of 5th year. "Yes sir?" I asked him. "How are you?" He asked. "Fine." I told him, not knowing where this was going. "Really?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "No. Not really." I told him "Care to elaborate." He asked. "Well, Ron thinks I knocked Hermione up, not some fertility person. He gave me this black eye. I haven't seen Mione since yesterday's debacle with Ron. I think she would like to kill me about now. And I have a headache." I told him. "Ronald has a thick head." He said as he handed me a headache draft. "Yes he does." I told him as I swallowed the potion. "New flavor." He had improved the flavor of the potion. "Yes. Actually was done by a student. Good job on that one." He said. "Don't get overwhelmed Harry, deal with things as they come, don't worry so much." He said. "Now get going. I have a 1st year class of Ravenclaws next. They are terrified of me." He smiled. I headed off towards the Gryffindor dorms. I knew I wouldn't run into Ron. He had a class that started 5 minutes after Potions. I went in the common room which only held a few students, most first years that had a half hour break. I headed up the stairs to the dorms, turning to the 7th year girls dorms. I quietly knocked and stuck my head in. Lavender turned towards me. She held her finger up to her mouth. She followed me out into the hallway. "How is she doing?" I asked. "She is still sleeping. She needed it. She was so emotionally drained. Her aura was practically non-existent." Lavender said. Lavender was big on Divination, and was actually had a better inner-eye than the old bat of a teacher. "I feel so bad after that fight with Ron." I told her. "I almost got Hermione hurt." "Hermione said you saved her from Ron. She doesn't blame you." Lavender said. "Oh." Was about all that I could say. "You better get going. People might start to suspect something when they see you outside the door." She said as she started to push me towards the stairs. "We should be in afternoon classes I think." She said. "I'll wear a red shirt if she is willing to talk to you. Blue if she isn't." "Thanks Lavender. Right now you are being a better friend than I could be." I told her. 


	5. 5.

~~~~~~~~~~**********~~~~~~~ Hermione's view. I woke up in the 7th year girls' dorm still in Lavender's bed. "Morning Mione." Lavender was sitting on the floor painting her toenails. "What time is it?" I asked her. "Well, Dumbledor excused us from classes, and since you were still sleeping, I didn't wake you up. It's lunch right now." She shut the bottle of polish. I sat up. "I missed two classes and breakfast and lunch. Can I borrow some clothes?" I asked. She already had put some jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of socks on the bed. "Dumbledor made an announcement that the rest of the year can be what ever we want to wear. Only 7th years can." She smiled. I went and hopped in the shower, and pulled on my clothes. "Are my eyes still red?" I asked her as I started putting on some make-up. "A little, but not too much. We had lunch sent up." She said as she handed me a sandwich and a bowl of soup. "That's nice to know. About both." I told her as I ate. "Harry stopped by. To see how you were." Lavender looked up at me. I thought I was going to cry again. "I hope you sent him away, fast." I told her. "I don't feel like talking to him any time in the near present. It's still too strange." I finished eating. I grabbed some eye shadow and mascara. "What color will help make the red look less noticeable?" I asked. "A neutral color. Peach." She told me. "Dang I dripped soup on my shirt." She pulled out a blue one from the closet. I couldn't see any soup on the one she had been wearing, but oh well. I looked at the clock. "We better get going to Charms. I want to beat the hallway rush if at all possible. Avoid stares." I told Lavender. She passes me my bag. "Malfoy gave this to Ginny in the hallway this morning. He said he put your Charms essay, book, and the things for Care of Magical creatures in there as well. He also copied his notes for you from Arithmacy." Lavender said as we headed down the stairs to Professor Flitwicks room. Lunch was still going on, so the hallways were nearly empty. We took our seats in Charms. I started looking over the notes Malfoy had left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***********~~~~~~~ Harry's View They weren't at lunch. Ron sat as far from me as possible. Parvati, Dean and Ginny sat near me. Dean and Ginny still didn't know why Ron was so angry, but I was in no mood to tell them. "Harry." I looked up. Dean was standing. "Yeah?" I asked him. "We've got charms now. We better get going or we are going to be late." Dean said. I grabbed my stuff. "We still have practice tonight. Right?" Seamus asked as he came up to me. I smacked myself on the head. "Yeah. Will you spread the word? We really have to practice in order to win against Slytherin in the last game. Right now we are tied for the Quidditch cup, and we are currently behind them by 20 points in the House cup. Practice will run from 5:30 until 8:00." I told Seamus as we headed into the Charms room. I saw Lavender and Hermione, already seated in the back. Lavender wasn't kidding when she said she would wear a certain shirt color. It is probably the brightest blue I have ever seen. I took a seat in the front. Seamus and Dean sat near me. We handed in our essays, and listened to Flitwick talk and talk. We reviewed more for the NEWTS and then practiced the color charms on our tablemates. We changed their shirt colors, eye colors, and hair colors. Soon Flitwick dismissed class and we all headed outside for Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid was bringing out a surprise today, he told us. I just hope it doesn't breath fire or anything. ~~~~~~~***********~~~~~ Hermione's View point He looked at me when he walked into Charms and I almost started to cry again. He looked so confused. As class was letting out Lavender leaned towards me. "Mione? Are you sure you want to go to Care of Magical creatures? We can skip out and go someplace else if you want." Lavender said as we picked up our bags. "I'll be fine." I told her as we headed outside. "Ok. If you want to head in, just tell me and we can leave." Lavender said as we approached the place that Hagrid had told us to all meet near. Most of the Gryffindors had already congregated, as well as the Slytherins. I saw Malfoy standing near his girlfriend, Blaise. "Hey Malfoy, thanks for dropping off my stuff for me." I told him. "It was no problem. I also cleared up the rumor that I had impregnated you. Blaise and I were starting to get a little sick of that particular rumor." He smiled. " What creature do you think our surprise will be? A Dragon?" The four of us laughed. "No, probably a three-headed cat. We already have met the three headed dog." I told him. Soon Hagrid walked out with a fairly large box. "'Ello Class. I've got yer surprise here. Class will be cut short today, somethin' came up that Dumbledor needs my help with." He opened the box and started to pull out cages of owls. "It's customary for us to give you owls when you graduate, in case you didn't have one before. And if you did, oh well, now you've got two." He started to pass out cages to each of us. He handed me the one that had my name on the cage. It was a pretty white owl, the same kind as Harry's. "What should I name her?" I asked Lavender. "Something interesting." She said. "Galinda. The good witch of the North." I told her. She had seen the Wizard of Oz a few summer's back. "That's cute." She said as we headed back to the castle owlery. Shelves with our names had already been placed in the room. I set Galinda on my shelf and helped Lavender find hers. Soon Harry walked in with Dean and Seamus. Ron was walking behind them, shooting looks at the three. Lavender and I stayed to one side of the room while the boys put their owls away. ~~~~~********~~~~~~~~~ Harry's PoV Lavender and Hermione were in the owlry when we went up there, to put our new owls away. Dean, Seamus and I decided that since we now had a free 2 hours before dinner, we would all go and have a good fly around the pitch. I watched the two girls as they moved to the far side, putting Lavender's new owl on her shelf. "Harry." I turned. Seamus and Dean were standing near the door. "Let's go man." They said. I followed them out of the room, with a glance towards Ron. He hadn't moved since he followed us up there. The three of us made our way to the pitch. There was no one around, so we had the whole pitch to ourselves. I grabbed my broom and shut my locker. All of a sudden Dean pulled my broom from my hands. "Harry. Seamus and I will not let you fly until you tell us exactly what is going on. Something is bothering you, we can tell, and it involves either Lavender or Hermione, judging by the way you keep staring at the two of them." Dean set my broom on one of the benches. "Harry. You can tell us. We are willing to listen." Seamus said as he set his broom down as well. "We have a feeling it has to do with those nasty rumors that are being spread about Hermione." "They are true." I told them as I sat down on the bench, sinking my head into my hands, running my fingers through my hair. "Which ones? We have heard like 7 different versions." Seamus said as he sat near me. "She is pregnant. It's some evil plot from You-Know-Who. That's probably why Hagrid had to go today. And I somehow found out that I am the father of Hermione's baby, yet we are both virgins." I told them. "I am a little spaced out right now, Hermione won't talk to me. Ron gave me a black eye and won't speak to either of us now. He thinks that I slept with Hermione." I told them. "That sucks." Dean said. "Yeah it does." I told them as I got up and started to walk around. "And there is nothing I can do to fix this mess. That's the hard part." I told them. "Can we go fly now?" I asked. "Yeah." Dean tossed me my broom. "You need to do something fun for a while." Seamus spoke up. "You don't think Ron would try to do anything to Hermione?" He asked with a slightly worried expression. "He can get mad, but would he ever get that mad? Remember when he found out that Ginny dated Malfoy for a little while. I thought he was going to kill Malfoy." I thought for a moment. "No. Ron would never be violent towards Hermione. It's just like he would never hurt Ginny. May threaten, but would never hurt her." I told the two as we walked outside. No one was out there.  
  
We started to fly around for a while. ~~~~~~~~~~~*********~~~~~~~~ Hermione's viewpoint. Dean, Seamus and Harry left the owlry, however Ron stayed behind. Lavender and I fed our owls, and were walking out of the room when Ron turned towards us. "Lavender. Why are you hanging around Hermione? She is just backstabbing trash. I thought you liked Harry, aren't you pissed?" If looks could kill, I would be nothing but a puddle of blood on the floor. "No Ronald. I got over Harry in 5th year. You know darn well that I got over him. Furthermore, Hermione is not backstabbing trash you and I both know that. So grow up Ron. You are a prick, face facts." Lavender pulled my arm and we hightailed it out of the owlry. Lavender yelled back. "Don't forget that we have practice tonight." Lavender, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Seamus, Emma Dobbs and Dennis Creevey made up the team; the reserves were almost all third years and one fourth year. Emma and Dennis were only third years, but were really good. Seamus and Dennis were beaters, Emma was Keeper, and Ginny, Ron and Lavender were chasers. "Lavender, do you mind if we go to the library for a little while. I need to study these Arithmacy notes." I asked Lavender as we headed down towards the room. "Sure, as long as you don't mind that I am going to read a trashy romance novel. Seeing as how my love life is at a low point." Lavender said. "Well, I though there was that thing with Jeremy Dorny (A/N J. Dorny is listed in the cover of Quidditch through the ages.) a while back." I asked, lowering my voice as we went past Madame Pince. "I realized that Goyle was smarter than he was." She told me as we sat down at a table. "You're not serious." I whispered. "I think the only book he has ever read is Quidditch Through the Ages." She said. "What happened to you and Seamus?" I asked as I took out the notes that Malfoy had copied for me. "I'm not too sure. I still have him on the back burner of my mind. I think I still like him, but I'm not sure." She said, turning a slight shade of pink. "Well, I say that you still like him and just don't know what to do about it." I told her. "And your love life isn't something to brag about." As soon as she said it she winced. "I shouldn't have said that." "What? It's the truth. I have no boyfriend, and for the near future, I highly doubt one will come around. All of the boys seem to be staying ten yards away from me, they seem to think I have some disease." I told her. "Malfoy is the only to step inside the 10 foot barrier, and he has a girlfriend." "Someone will come when you least expect it. Who knows, it could be the next person to walk in the door." She said. Just then the door opened. A little Gryffindor 1st year named Kaleb Broadmore walked in. "I think not." I giggled with Lavender. "Yeah. A little too short for you." She and I were almost in tears. "We better get to work." I whispered. I started reading the notes that Malfoy had taken. It was review of The Pirtuan System and the Okevn theorem. A headache was a better term for what we were currently reviewing. We sat for almost an hour before we finished. "We should head to dinner." Lavender said. "I hear we are having fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and other stuff for dinner." She said. "Sounds good to me. I hope that the stares aren't too horrific." We packed up our things and headed to the Hall. We weren't the first ones there, but it wasn't crowded yet. We grabbed seats at the huge Gryffindor table. There were only a few Gryffindors seated already, so we had a good choice of seats. I chose to sit with my back to the Ravenclaw table, seeing as they were much worse than the Slytherins. Soon students started to trickle in a few at a time. The stares were awful from the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but the Slytherins hardly looked in my direction. Soon most of the Gryffindor table had been filled. Save for the three seats across from myself, Lavender and Parvati. Parvati had switched from Care of Magical Creatures to an advanced Divination class, and her class had still taken place. Soon, Dean, Seamus and Harry came in, slightly sweaty and red in the face. They looked around for seats, but the only empty ones were across from us. Dean immediately took the one next to Ginny and Seamus sat across from Lavender, leaving Harry. ~~~~~~~~~~***********~~~~~~~~~ Harry's viewpoint. Across from Hermione. Since Dean and Seamus had to sit down first, the only other empty seat was across from Hermione. She looked at me for a moment then looked at her plate. I have all the luck in the world. The bad luck of course. "Hi Harry." I looked up from my plate. Hermione had said Hi to me. "Hi Hermione." I said back to her as the tables started to fill with food. "Harry!" I turned and saw Emma Dobbs coming up to me. "Yes Emma." I said as I placed a few pieces of chicken on my plate and passed the platter to Dean. "Are we going to work on those new plays tonight?" Ron and I had come up with a few plays to work on. "Sure, why not. They might help us in the game against Slytherin." I told her. "Thanks." She walked off. "You are all coming to the game right? It's the Friday after the NEWTS, they canceled afternoon classes that day." I told the table. "Harry. Most of us know that." Lavender said. "Remember, we play on the team." She laughed. "What do you think I am stupid, I knew you played on the team? I was saying that to the benefit of the people sitting near us who don't play for the team." We all had a laugh over that one. I looked at the clock. "Hurry up you guys. And girls, I want to start practice as soon as possible." Lavender and Ginny rolled their eyes at me. Seamus ate a bit faster. I finished my chicken and went to work on my potatoes. I noticed that Hermione had hardly touched anything, except her water. "Eat." I told her as I gave her the sternest look I could. She just laughed. "You expect me to be intimidated by you when you have gravy on your nose?" She laughed. I reached up and wiped it off. "Eat." I said to her again. This time she listened and started to eat some of her mashed potatoes. She also took a bite of her chicken. "That's better." I told her. I finished my plate of food and looked around for dessert. There were 6 or seven different types of pie set around the tables. I looked around for my favorite, pumpkin. I spied a tin towards the end of the left side. I got up to go grab the tin and bring it to our end. ~~~~~*******~~~~~~ Hermione's PoV. He was acting like my father. I suppose he had a point, the only thing I had eaten was a bowl of soup and a sandwich, plus a few cookies. I did eat some potatoes and some of my chicken. Soon Harry had finished eating. He looked around for a moment and then walked to the end of the table grabbing something and bringing it back. It was a covered pie tin. "My favorite kind. Pumpkin." He opened the tin. "Just enough for the seven of us friends." He waved the tin under my nose. I felt the familiar waves of nausea run over me. "Excuse me." I said as I got up, trying to walk as fast as possible with out being noticed. I hightailed it towards Myrtle's bathroom, knowing that I couldn't hold it in too much longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*******~~~~ Harry's PoV. Hermione got up from the table. I thought she was sick of sitting near me. "Is it just me or did Mione look a tad green after you opened the pie tin and waved it under her nose." Seamus asked, as our small group all noticed her sudden absence. "Shit." I got up from the table. The spices in the pie probably made her sick. Lavender got up after me. I walked into the hallway and opened the Marauder's map. Hermione was in Myrtle's bathroom again. I walked as fast as I could towards the bathroom. There was no one else's dot in the room so I walked in right away. "Hermione?" I called out. "Go away Harry." She said from the third stall. "No." I told her. I heard more retching. "Please?" She whimpered. "No. I did this to you." I told her as I tried to open the door. She had locked it. "Just leave!" She said again a bit louder this time. "Harry." I turned. Lavender had entered, carrying her and Hermione's bags. "I think I would be the best if you left now." She started to push me towards the door. "I may be a little late for practice." "Fine." I shut the bathroom door a bit loudly and stomped off towards the pitch. 


End file.
